A bit of conjecture here. The injury news is looking a bit more positive but that might not be what could be worrying Arsene Wenger now.

He has to get William Gallas and Bacary Sagna to refocus on club football after the Ireland France odyssey. Gallas of course was one of the principal characters in the France farce and might be in for some stick with fans with Irish national players in their club like City and Aston Villa.

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17 arrests for a match fixing scandal which affects 200 matches in nine European countries.

The matches include the Bundesliga second division, and the leagues in Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia and Austria. 12 Europa matches and 3 CL matches are said to be manipulated this year, and it is unclear as to whether it is the group stage or qualifying rounds.

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Sports pundits and fans are going full tilt at Thierry Henry calling him a "cheat", "morally reprehensible", "unsportsmanlike", "a snake oil salesman".

Richard Williams crosses that line when as a Brit he forgives Maradona's hand of God goal saying it amounts to breeding.

"To rank the incident in Paris alongside Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" in 1986 is misleading.

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My introduction to Daniele De Rossi was the vicious elbow that he threw at Brian McBride, leaving his face bloody in the USA vs Italy match in the 2006 World Cup. It left a negative impression of him but here is De Rossi doing something rare in football nowadays, acknowledging that he used his hand to score a goal against Serie side Messina.

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Jones is described as an owner, advisor and promoter in the company by Socal Soccer City Holdings President Kevin Gilmore, a partner in the proposed indoor Futsal facility on Maple Avenue that will occupy a former shipping facility.

Jones, now an assistant coach with the Galaxy after a glittering 12-season career with the MLS club, grew up in Westlake Village.

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Arsene Wenger had some good news.

"After being assessed by the Arsenal medical staff, the club can confirm that Kieran Gibbs has sustained severe bruising to the bones and soft tissue of his right foot."

There is no fracture of the metatarsal as feared at first. Gibbs injury is short term and he should ready to face the highly anticipated Chelsea showdown.

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Amidst all the drama with the Ireland vs France match and earlier the Egypt vs Algeria showdown, the USA played a friendly with Denmark. Bob Bradley started Jeff Cunningham and I am happy to say, it turned out well because he scored his first international goal and nearly set up Altidore with another.

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Its not just the Egyptian and Algerian governments having a holy go at each other.

The replay request is now being echoed in the upper echelons of the Irish government as Brian Cowen, the Irish PM is now suggesting that he will approach the French premier Nickolas Sarkozy to discuss a replay and circumvent FIFA's objections.

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Berbatov scored twice in a friendly against Malta and went on to become Bulgaria's leading goalscorer - notching up 48 goals in 74 games.

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The Egyptian ambassador to Algeria was recalled by Cairo as the soccer feud between the two countries has now escalated into a full scale diplomatic row.

It is also believed that Hosni Mubarak himself called the Algerian ambassador, Abdel Qader Hadja hours before the recall of the Egyptian envoy, to voice his grievance over the assaults on Egyptian citizens who went to Khartoum to support the Egyptian team.

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Thierry Henry's left forearm makes first contact with the ball but then as the ball bounces off ever so slightly his hand comes up and he steers the ball onto his foot. The first touch was inadvertent but his second touch had clear intent. What is so amazing about this is that the linesman on the opposite side should have seen happened because as far as one can see his vision remains unobstructed with Henry furthest out clear of the Irish defenders and Shay Given.

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FIFA to Ireland: Thou shall not qualify. Internalize the meme, you will not win a playoff game.

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Seems like a whole lot of past and present Arsenal connections have played or are playing a very influential part in the France vs Ireland match and its aftermath.

The latest is Liam Brady calling FIFA for a replay which he says would be only fair given that it was a clear handball by Thierry Henry that set up William Gallas equalizer.

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Montevideo, Uruguay was the site of raucous celebrations as the Charruas drew the Ticos at the Centenario but thanks to their away win at Estadio Saprissa on November 14th clinched passage to the 2010 World Cup on goal aggregate.

Sebastian Abreu lost his markers after Diego Scotti centered his cross, to head the ball home past Keylor Navas to put the Uruguayans ahead but the Ticos equalized minutes later with Fernando Muslera diving to the left to get a hand on Alvaro Saborio's shot but unable in the end to keep it out of the back of the net.

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Before Adebayor, Robinho and the other eight strikers at City, there used to be Georgios Samaras. Although highly touted by Stuart Pearce, he failed to make an impact in the two years while at the club.

When Sven Goran Ericksson was made manager Samaras was confined mostly to the bench.

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I was reluctant at first to write about this, and everyone from my non-soccer life was soliciting opinions on Henry's handball against Ireland, but I do have one or two things to say.
I first want to echo Brian Phillips remark yesterday: "Don't call it a "controversial goal." It was a visibly illegitimate goal. Click to continue reading...

(Summary is not available.) Click to continue reading...

Slovenia wins over nine man Russia through Zlatko Dedic's toe poke goal in the 44th minute.

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Raul Meireles second half strike sink Bosnia's hopes.

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Antar Yahia became the hero of Algeria as they beat Egypt. His superb volley off a Ziani cross in the first half made the difference. The Fennecs enter the World Cup for the first time since 1986.

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Thierry Henry clearly handled Florent Malouda's delivery and then picked out Gallas in front of goal, who drove home the equalizer in extra time. The referee Martin Hansson and his assistant did not see the infraction.

The goal nullified Robbie Keane's 32nd minute opener. And cruelly snuffed out Ireland's chances.

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The USMNT meet Denmark, today at NRGi Park, Aarhus, 8:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. ET), and the match will be broadcast live on ESPN Classic at 2:25 p.m.

There maybe a reason for Bob Bradley's faith in Jonathan Bornstein. They both began their national careers on 20 January, 2007 against Denmark and Bornstein repaid his coach's faith by scoring the game winner.

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It took 20 seconds to shatter the France's march to the 1994 World Cup. In the 90' minute Emil Kostadinov lashed a ball past Bernard Lama to win the game for Bulgaria, 2-1 and shatter French hopes for qualifying for the 1994 World Cup. David Ginola could have run out the clock but his errant cross led to the Kostadinov disaster.

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Robin Van Persie flew today to Belgrade to meet with Marijana Kovacevic, a Serbian housewife who uses fluid from horse placenta to massage injured tissues enabling it to heal faster. At least that is what many footballers using her treatment claim.

RVP did not seem to know much about her or the therapy:

"She is vague about her methods but I know she massages you using fluid from a placenta," he said.

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Gibbs limped off with an ankle injury after a 12st minute tackle forced him out of the U21 Euro match against Lithuania. He is to undergo an X ray as a precautionary measure and more information on the extent of his injury will be available later this week.

With Gael Clichy out for a month with a back injury, the left back position was a lock for Gibbs.

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Some uplifting news for the Liverpudlians. Stevie G is ready to rock n' roll against City this weekend. Will Liverpool join the list of clubs that have stuck it to City?

Personally, I think Liverpool played well against Birmingham - they faltered familiarly on set pieces but overall they were a number of positives.

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Its all pretty confusing but it seems that Raymond Domenech was complaining that they were really playing the English B squad. Or some bowdlerized version which of course even if untrue is used to motivate your players. Which is what got Richard Dunne all bent out of shape. He had been using Domenech as comedy material before the match.

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Earlier this summer, the football world was shocked by the tragic death of Espanyol captain Dani Jarque, dead of a heart attack at the age of 26 years.

And now, Antonio De Negris, a striker for Greek team Larissa, and a former Mexixcan international who was capped 16 times is dead at 31 years of age of a suspected heart attack.

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Why is this man not in the All XI?

Its the numbers you produce and not the little things that you do on the pitch to improve your team which seems to drive the MLS All XI. Even when you factor in stats it does not seem to add up to why Cuauhtemoc Blanco was left out.

Blanco played 21 matches, started in 15 of them and in 1452 minutes of playing time he scored 5 goals and 8 assists.

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Vote for the African Premier League player who has been the best ambassador for Africa here...The winner will be declared on the 30th of November 2009
Drogba signed a new advertising contract with Pepsi and pledged the entire £3m he earned from the deal to the setting-up of a hospital and orphanage in Ivory Coast.

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Haris Seferovic takes advantage of a slow reacting Nigerian defense to head the ball home in the 63' minute off a corner. There were some tense moments for the Swiss when Stanley Okoro's header hit the upright but Siegrist saved the ball in the scramble.

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After RVP's injury, the news that Eduardo is being sent to Liverpool makes as much sense as a Sarah Palin presser. A slow news day during international week.

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Ramsey was incandescent in Wales 3-0 victory over a disjointed Scotland side. The third goal reminded me of the way Fabregas took off against Spurs for his goal. And now George Burley faces the axe.

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A brief statement on Arsenal's website updates RVP's status. He will be traveling back to London this week and resuming his care with the Arsenal medical staff at London Colney.

They also confirm the 6 week convalescence period.

Elsewhere in the Arsenal blog world:

Arseblog mentions, the silver lining is the pretty straightforward series of fixtures till Xmas other than Chelsea and Liverpool (both clubs have their injury woes too).

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The Guardian picked Liverpool to win the Premiership. We can see how well that is turning out.

Now, they are picking Chelsea to win the Treble. This comes from Paul Wilson who predicted that Chelsea would fall out of the top four.

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